


To Bree and Back Again

by myscribblingquill



Series: Dwarven Outpost in The Shire [2]
Category: The Hobbit (Jackson Movies), The Hobbit - All Media Types, The Hobbit - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Alternate Universe - Shire Retirement, Baby Hobbits, Bree - Freeform, Dwarves in the Shire, M/M, Shire Retirement, The Shire
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-05
Updated: 2015-05-05
Packaged: 2018-03-29 03:58:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,812
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3881425
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/myscribblingquill/pseuds/myscribblingquill
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After retiring back to the Shire Thorin makes some new friends. Specifically very young hobbits who want nothing more than to follow his example and go on an adventure of their own.</p>
            </blockquote>





	To Bree and Back Again

**Author's Note:**

> So everyone over at the bagginshieldexistnet was discussing Thorin and baby hobbits and then this happened. I loved writing Thorin and children so this may becomes a series to help me de-stress from exams

Bilbo was sure that the Shire was supposed to be considered a peaceful place, at least that was how he remembered it before he went to Erebor. In fact he remembered it being peaceful even when he retired back there with Thorin nearly 20 years later. It seemed however that as Thorin had never seen the Shire as a peaceful place he didn't mind making it … well as un-peaceful as possible. 

The moment Thorin arrived in the Shire after 20 years of ruling in Erebor he'd decided that as this place was now him home he would have to get to know his way around. It would be useless if he couldn't get back to Bilbo's smial and had to ask for directions when he'd been living there for a while. So as soon as he had finished helping Bilbo unpack he'd went for a walk. Albeit it may have last for slightly longer that he was expecting but he did discover something rather interesting about hobbits, or young hobbits to be more specific.

After walking out of the front door of Bag-End he'd taken a left and a couple of rights and then ended up rounding a corner only to stumble over a bundle of brown hair and tears. Thorin's first reaction was to freeze. It wasn't as if he wasn't good with children, he'd raised Fili and Kili, but he wasn't expecting to meet an tiny hobbit babe that was curled up on itself crying. 

The poor little creature was sobbing quietly and the sound made Thorin's chest ache. He'd crouched down and reached out a gentle hand towards the child's head telling her that she would be ok and he'd help her. The sound of his voice caught the little girls attention and she lifted her head up, staring at him with green tear filled eyes. 

"Are you a dwarf Mister?" She'd asked. "The one living with Master Bilbo?" 

He nodded at the little girl, introducing himself as Thorin and reaching out his arms to pick the little girl up. She'd introduced herself as Emmi and directed him through the winding Shire paths to her mother. It was the beginning of an unlikely friendship between a dwarf and a hobbit babe that lead to the peaceful tranquillity of the Shire being disrupted. 

Less than 4 months later Bilbo young nephew was in need of caretakers and Thorin volunteered himself and Bilbo before he could even register the word's coming out of his mouth. He blamed it on the face of the poor frightened child that was stood next to the Thain but Bilbo rolled his eyes and muttered something about the soft-heartedness of dwarves. 

Frodo had taken to Thorin very well and it seemed that the rest of the children of the Shire saw in him someone to climb all over and use as a flowerbed. It was unlikely that Thorin could venture out of Bag-End without having a child attaching themselves to his legs or arms. Thorin became the greatest friends of all the children living west of Bree and quite often had a troop of them following him around.

It was this following of children that lead to the current squeals of delight that echoed around across the green fields. The children had been given permission to go on an adventure with Thorin. The idea had occurred to him a few months earlier when he'd been retelling the story of reclaiming Erebor. One of the girls, Darla, jumped up waving a wooden sword proclaiming that she could slay a dragon if she needed to. That was when Thorin thought of taking the 12 children gathered at his feet to Bree to give them some sense of what him and the rest of the company did 30 years earlier. 

It wasn't easy to persuade the parents, most claiming that young hobbits had no need to venture outside the Shire. Yet eventually, after many tearful stares from the children, most of the parents said yes. The date was set and Bilbo had hobbits knocking on his door constantly asking what the children would be needing. Blankets, sleeping mats, tents, food? One had even asked if they would be needing to take any gardening equipment with them. Bilbo had assured him that the children would just be away for a few days and referred the rest of them to Thorin who was running around trying to organise his baby burglars as he called them. 

There weren't too many children living in the immediate vicinity of Bag-End so the group that comprised the adventurers consisted of 12 children, Bilbo and Thorin. Sort of ironic, Bilbo thought. The exact opposite of the original company, Thorin being the only dwarf this time. The rest of the hobbits were just reaching their tweens and longed to battle a dragon like Uncle Thorin had. Not that there would be an dragons on this particular adventure. 

Frodo was part of the company and had managed to get the parents of his three closest friends to give their permission too. Samwise was a sensible boy so Bilbo wasn't too worried about him. It was Merry and Pippin that concerned Bilbo. He'd seen enough of their antics to know that they had the same gift for pranks as Fili and Kili. 

He'd voiced his concerns to Thorin, warning his husband that it would be just like losing the ponies at trollshaw. Thorin knew all about Merry and Pippin so smiled at Bilbo's frantic ranting. Beside he knew that once out of the shire the two pranksters would be to occupied with the adventure not pranks. That was what had happened with his nephews. The boys on the road were considerably tamer than in the blue mountains. 

The day of the great adventure as the youngsters called it arrived and was not at all unlike the one on which Bilbo had set out on.The sun was shining across the green fields and has warmer the air sufficiently so that no coats were needed. The Shire was waking and as it did Thorin's burglar babies realised that today was the day. 

That was what caused the peacefulness of a calm shire morning to be broken. 

Squeals of delight rang across the hills as the children were given their packs stuffed full with freshly cooked food. The adventurers were set to meet at Bag-End and so they ran through the shire paths shouting out goodbyes' to their friends and families. 

The residents of Bag-End had been up since the sun rose, Frodo waking his uncles with yells of " Uncles we're going on an adventure! Wake up!" 

They set off with Thorin leading and Bilbo following closely behind with a map in his hand. They had planned out their route a few nights before, opting for the safest route to the outside of Bree and back. The navigation was left to Bilbo though. Even Thorin agreed that he was not the best person for the job, after the mishap in Mirkwood and then awful navigation he showed whilst on the journey back to the Shire. 

The young hobbits trailed behind the two adults discussing different aspects of their adventure. Emmi was talking excitedly to her cousin Darla, the scrape on her name from her first encounter with Thorin healed months ago. Merry and Pippin were at the back of the group, conversing with Frodo and Sam about how to prank a dragon. Darla's brother, Korrin was next to Bilbo, telling the older hobbit about all the plants and flowers he recognised as they walked. 

The rest were wandering behind Thorin at a steady pace. Milo and Reginard were talking at length of the best types of pie to be had and which of their many relative made the best ones. The merits of braiding hair was also being evaluated by Flora and Ranna, while Prisca sang out a happy tune from the middle of the group. 

The little troop marched across the Shire and out onto the open lands. They'd been picking apples and other fruits that they saw on the trees in the surrounding forests so the children had kept their stomachs full throughout the day. Now though, as the sun sunk below the hills Korrin and Prisca were slowing down. 

" Alright everyone, we're stopping here for the night" Thorin spoke walking over to a large oak tree and dumping his pack by the roots. 

Cheers came from the children as earlier that day Thorin had promised them sword fighting lessons when the stopped for the evening. 

"Packs over by Bilbo and swords out everyone" 

The children scrambled over to where Bilbo was crouched clearing and area for a small fire. They hadn't planned to cook that night having enough cold pies and meat to satisfy any hobbit, but Bilbo was making a small fire to provide them with light for when the sun faded. 

Getting the 12 children to line up in front on him Thorin started working though some basic sword positions. He knew that there was no real reason to teach them to fight but if he was going to do it then he would be doing it properly. He started with footing first. There was no point in having a sword if you were going to fall over as soon as you moved. 

Over the next hour Thorin went through lots of different techniques, keeping the tone of his word fun and light. He challenged Milo to a duel and fell over backwards when the boy tried to stab him in the shoulder. The children were flagging a bit when called Frodo up and held out the words sword he'd been using. "Come on then, my boy. Let's see how much you've been practising" 

Frodo turned towards Merry and Pippin to mutter something in a low tone that Thorin couldn't hear, then turned to face him with his mixture wooden Orcist in hand. 

"Uncle … I will win" Frodo said with a glint in his eye. He took a step forward and then, before Thorin could react to the slight movement he saw out of the eye, he was overwhelmed by 12 giggling hobbits. 

"We won Uncle Thorin, we won" Frodo shouted as he walked across Thorin's stomach. Darla and Korrin were sat on his left arm, Flora and Reginard were on his right one. Merry and Pippin had hold of his left leg and were trying to undo his boot, while Ranna, Milo and Prisca were wriggling on his right leg. Emmi was sat by his head pulling and his hair and ensuring that it was a completely mess and so with Frodo and Sam on his torso, Thorin was stuck under a pile of hobbits. 

"That you did" he muttered back from under a layer of hair that had just been pushed across his face by Emmi. "Now I think you all need to eat and then sleep so you're ready for getting to Bree tomorrow" 

At the words 'eat' all 12 of the hobbits leapt of Thorin and ran over to Bilbo would was sat by the pile of packs with his sleeping mat and a large pile of food. The commotion of the hobbits running for food caused him to look up from the map and catch sight of Thorin's hair. 

"Ohhhhh Thorin" he said, amidst fits of giggles."I think I'll need to re-braid your hair to night, my love it looks like a birds nest" 

It really was quite amusing to see Thorin with his braids half-undone and with it stick up in all directions with bits of twigs and leaves entwined. Emmi really had done a good job at messing it up. Bilbo would have to take most of the braids out and put them back in again once the children had gone to sleep. Although by the wide yawn's coming from the young ones Bilbo knew they'd be out as soon as they'd finished eating. 

* * *

The next day they arrived at Bree. Bilbo had agreed with the other parents that the children were not to enter Bree at all if possible. Most of the Shire inhabitants had never been there themselves and had no desire for their children to be scared by the big people. Thorin however did need to go into the town as they need to by some more food for the trip back to the shire. 

Although the had only planned for 4 days both Thorin and Bilbo knew that there was no way they could carry enough food for 13 hungry hobbits and a dwarf. There was already complaints that they didn't eat second breakfast at the dinner table. So it was decided that Thorin would go into the town and pick up the necessary food for their return journey the next day. 

Already being comfortable with the town, having met Gandalf there many years before, Thorin was able to get in and out of the time in under 3 hours. Though it may have been the flowers that Milo and Ranna plaited into his hair that speed up the process dramatically. 

While he had been shopping in Bree, Bilbo set about making sure that the 12 hobbits were fed and that they'd all been drinking enough water. Then when he'd finished the children had set about amusing themselves with playing at killing Azog, otherwise know as a fallen branch. 

Throughout the day Thorin and Bilbo had been telling the young ones about their journey to Erebor, starting with the dwarves arrival in Bag-End. They'd progressed slowly though the story, stopping every time someone saw something interesting off to the side. 

It seemed that even though adults hobbits never ventured out of the Shire ,(apart from the adventurous ones) young hobbits had plenty of questions about what happened beyond their borders. Bilbo and Thorin had been littered with questions all day, about anything from how the elves ate in Rivendell to what the baths at Beorn's were like. 

The constant asking of questions meant that they'd only just reach the part where Smaug left Erebor before Thorin left for Bree with promises to continue when he got back. 

By the time Thorin arrived with the supplies Bilbo had managed to get all the children to some sort of order. They all had blankets wrapped around them in case the night turned chilly and were contently waiting for Thorin to finish getting comfortable before continuing the story. 

"How do you kill a dragon Uncle Thorin?" Korrin's voice rang out from where he was sat under a blanket. 

"Well" Thorin responded. " It takes a great deal of courage and some very smart thinking and of course having a burglar around is always helpful" He smiles down at Bilbo would was wrapped up in his arms. The hobbit shifted and a smile crept onto his face at the mention of Smaug. 

"I know how you kill the dragon" Frodo yelled across the clearing when he realised that Thorin was about to retell his favourite part of the story. " Please let me tell them Uncle Bilbo" 

Bilbo shifted in Thorin's arms, sitting up slightly so he could see the little boy "Go on then Frodo" 

He stood up, clutching his fake sword in one hand with eyes sparkling "So after the dragon arrives at lake town, it started to burn the town down. Now luckily for the people that lived there the bowman was on hand to help. He was a descendant of the king of Dale and his name was ... Bard?" Frodo looked at his uncle for confirmation and Bilbo nodded, encouraging him to continue. 

"So Bard had a black arrow that was bigger than Uncle Thorin" a small gasp went round the group of children, all with their eyes fixed firmly on Frodo. "Bard used the arrow to shoot the dragon in a gap in his scales and he hit the mark perfectly" Frodo thrust his sword forward imitating the arrow piercing Smaug's scales. " The dragon fell into the lake so Uncle Thorin could take his kingdom back and live happily ever after with Uncle Bilbo" 

A cheer went up from the children as Frodo finished the story and they all started chattering amongst themselves about the bravery of King Bard. 

"You know, I'm surprised you even told him about Bard's involvement. You could have told him that Smaug died because you glared at him for long enough" Bilbo raised his face slightly to look Thorin in the eye. 

Thorin shifted his hold on Bilbo, pulling him onto his lap so their faces were level " Well, we are allies with the lake-men. I couldn't really leave him out" he responded, pointedly ignoring Bilbo's comment about stubbornness. 

"You're allies with Thranduil too but you still leave him out of the story" 

Thorin muttered something about tree-shagger's and their stupid traditions as he pulled Bilbo closer to his chest. "Well Thranduil had blankets and you were cold … it just made sense to come to an agreement."

Bilbo chuckled and pulled a blanket up to his neck covering Thorin's torso in the process. "Well it's just as well I got could then or we would still be fighting that stupid war with the now." 

Thorin stiffened up at the mention of the battle but didn't respond as Bilbo's hand tightened around his. "Thorin shhhh, they've all fallen asleep." Bilbo said, looking around at the little lumps just visible in the fading light. The children were worn out from all their adventuring and had fallen asleep with Bilbo or Thorin realising it. 

* * *

The next day continued very much like the first. Breakfast was eaten before they set of and then second breakfast was handed out on the road. Then elevensies was eaten under a huge willow tree protecting them all from the sun. 

They kept on going back to the Shire with Thorin explaining to the them how they lived on the road when he first left Erebor. It hurt Bilbo to hear of what he had to got throught when he was so young (by dwarven standards) but then he saw the smile on Thorin's face every time he recived a sword jab to any area of his body and found that he couldn't be too mad at the dragon. After all the dragon taking Erebor was the only reason why Thorin and Bilbo met in the first place. 

Stopping for lunch next to a shallow stream, that the children could paddle in, Reginard slipped a cut his foot on a sharp rock. At the time Bilbo and Thorin where resting by the side of the river and heard the scream of pain from the little boy. Thorin shot up and was by his side in a trice.

"Uncle Thorin, my foot hurts" the little boy wept, hugging onto Thorin shirt. 

Emmi appeared next to Thorin shoulder and tried to help comfort him. "It's okay, Reg. Uncle Thorin will have you fixed up in no time." She said taking hold of Reginard's hand so that Thorin could have a look at the damage to his foot.

"He found me when I got that cut on my knee and I'm all better now" Emmi told Reginard, smiling brightly as him while Thorin inspected his foot.

Lifting his head up from where he was looking at Reginard's foot he grabbed some of the bandages that Bilbo has given to Emmi. "Well Reg, you'll be fine. It's just a little cut." He assured the boy, wrapping the clothe gently round the foot to stop the bleeding.

"Although" Thorin contiuned, once he'd finished bandaging, "Now that one of my brave warriors is wounded I may have to carry him till we make camp tonight."

Reginard's face lit up at the thought of being carried by Thorin for the rest of the afternoon and when asked by Bilbo if he thought he could walk told Bilbo that his foot was very painful but if Uncle Thorin could carry him for a while then he would be ok tomorrow.

Throughout the group there seemed to be a general consensue that Reginard needed to be protected just in case any nasty orcs decided to take advantage of their wounded warrior. The formed a group around Thorin with their wooden swords out. Merry and Pippin started a competition of who could make the most orc-like face and soon enough they were all walking around making faces at any passing trees.

When the set up camp later that evening, the children decidied that as it was their last night out in the open they should have a song sung to them by Thorin.

Bilbo was rather pleased at their requested as Thorin rarely sung at home, only when Frodo needed soothing. So Thorin launched into a rendition of 'The Misty Mountains Cold' and by the time he'd finished the first verse, all 12 hobbits were snoring softly under the stars.

* * *

Their return to the Shire the next day was twice as noisy as their departure for it four days earlier. Waking up in the morning the children had been slightly despondent because they would no longer be out on their adventure but Bilbo reminded them that they would have plenty of stories to tell.

Reginard was walking with the help of a stick that Bilbo found for him the night before, and each person had a flower crown on top of their head. The children walked back into the Shire and up the hill to Bag-End with their heads held high, as if returning triumphant from war. 

Once at the door to Bilbo and Thorin's smial, they greeted their parents with many joyful words and stories half-told. There were hung given all round, mostly to Thorin and Bilbo, and the other children gathered close to pick up any bits of the story they could.

The delight in their faces was evident, even in those who had stayed in the shire, and the adults even wanted to here all about what the children had seen and done.

After all the children were at home in their own beds, and Frodo tucked up in his own after a nice warm bath, Thorin started to tell Bilbo that they should probably do it again one day.

Bilbo, it seemed had a very similar idea, though with something smaller. Maybe just around the Shire not to Bree.

"But, Thorin neither of us is going anywhere if we're covered in dirt."

"Hmm?" Thorin started up, deep in thought about how to next entertain the child. "Well, we may not have enough hot water for a bath each."

Their eyes meet and Bilbo's mouth turned up at the edges as his face broke into a smile. Adventuring was fun but having a bath in your own home was sometime better than one in a river.

**Author's Note:**

> So I realised that I really screwed with the timeline here but oh well. If there are any grammar/spelling error please let me know, I didn't really edit this.  
> I'm almost 100 % sure that this is going to become a series because Thorin and baby hobbits is just too cute. If anyone has any ideas then come say hi on [tumblr](https://homeoftheburglar.tumblr.com)


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